A/N - HOLY SHIT IT'S BEEN 3 MONTHS.

So I'm REEEAAALLY sorry about the long wait, but I won't block the chapter up at the top here, so I'll put the note down at the bottom!

And another apology for the sudden mini-hiatus, it was completely uncalled for, and most likely won't happen again. And on another note, WORLD TRIGGER CAME BACK WHILE I WAS GONE! HOLY SHIT!

-0-

'Are you gonna dress up for the festival?'

I blinked at the paper cluelessly, the slightly crumpled texture brushing against my fingers as I picked up the scrap. I glanced back at Yuma quickly, but his expression gave nothing away as he 'watched' the teacher at the front of the classroom drone on and on about something vaguely history related.

I bit my lip and picked up my pencil.

'Why are you asking all of a sudden?'

I tossed the paper over my shoulder the moment my eyes registered the teacher's back to us. However, this little window of time's criteria didn't include everyone in the class looking away from us, and so I received a few disbelieving glances.

A paper hit me in the side of the head a few moments later, bouncing off and landing in the centre of my desk.

Internally, I congratulated Yuma on the good shot. Outwardly, my eye twitched.

'Well, I tried asking Shiori about the celebration, since I don't know too much about it, and she said that some people wear'—

There was a smudged area, where I suspected he attempted several times to spell the word.

—'Yutakas.'

I scribbled out a quick asterisk below the word, with a small 'Yukata', before continuing with the rest of my message.

'And no, I haven't gone to the new years festival in years. It got old after a few years since I didn't have any friends at school to go with. And after I met Chika and Rinji, they couldn't go either or else Chika might've attracted Neighbours (especially with how many people were around) so the three of us and my mom would stay home.'

That message took up a few lines.

I gained a few more incredulous glances as I tossed the paper behind me once again.

The paper landed on the corner of my notebook the next time. I quickly noted how quickly Yuma could write, despite his inability to take actual notes for school work.

'I don't have anything particularly fancy to wear.'

I subtly raised an eyebrow.

'What, did you want to wear a yukata?'

'I just wanted to see one. I find that Japan has a lot of cool stuff, so I wanted to see what it's like.'

'…You know, just cause I'm not dressing up, doesn't mean no one else will.'

There a was a longer pause before I got a reply on that one, as if Yuma has reread the sentence more than once.

'Oh yeah. I forgot.'

'Chika'll probably dress up. She has a yukata, even though she hasn't gotten to wear it very often.'

'Really? She can come?'

'Sure, Shiori did say that a lot of Border agents will be there… Besides, if anything happens, she can defend herself now.'

'That's good. I hope she'll have fun.'

'Shiori'll probably dress up too. Karasuma-senpai told me that he might be working at one of the stalls though.'

'Oh that's cool. What kind of games are there?'

When the paper landed on my desk this time, the teacher sent the two of us a suspicious glance. I resisted the urge to whistle obnoxiously, and only let out a breath once they had turned around once again.

'….Uhhhhhhhhhh. I think there's something about catching goldfish with a paper net, or something.'

'Paper? I didn't think you could do that.'

'…To be honest, I'm sure the point of most of those games IS to be impossible.'

'Oh. It's one of THOSE games.'

I snickered, barely muffling the sound with my hand.

'There'll probably be some shooter games too, with fake guns and a bunch of toys on a shelf… Or something. Like I said, I haven't gone in a long time.'

'Oh, that sounds fun. I don't have very good aim though, I'll just leave that to you and Chika.'

'I'll probably leave it to Chika too.'

'It all sounds like fun.'

'…It probably is.'

I took a while to properly convey the sudden rush of emotions I felt.

'…I'm glad you came to earth, honestly. I don't think I would have ever talked to Chika normally again after the incident with Rinji. And I wouldn't have gone to Border if you weren't around either. So thanks for being here.'

I didn't get the paper back for a few minutes after that. I worried very briefly that anything like that was far too out of the blue, but it was too late to have second thoughts.

'…You're making me feel awkward now, I thought we were just talking about the festival tonight. But I'm glad to be here too, I guess.'

'What do you mean, "I guess"?'

I considered for a moment if I should've drawn an emoji on the paper just to see him laugh and lighten up the mood, and eventually gave in to the temptation.

':('

Moments after the repeatedly folded and crumpled paper landed softly on his desk, I heard a muffled chuckle.

He didn't toss the paper back to me again before the bell had rung, but we were both wearing matching grins as we ran out of the classroom.

"You wanna hang out at Border for a bit before we need to go?"

I sighed, shaking my head fondly as I glanced over at the tall building in the distance.

"... Yeah sure, whatever."

-0-

"Yuma, we have around an hour until we need to head back to Tamakoma to meet up with everyone else."

"Ok. I'll be back here by then."

"…Are you even listening to yourself right now?"

"What? I said that I'd be back here. By the time we need to leave."

"…You know what, never mind. I'm gonna head to the cafeteria area so I can get a drink and get a head-start on some homework. I'll call you around 10 minutes before we need to go, and if you're not here by then…."

"You have so little faith in my sense of direction, Mori."

"I feel like my lack of faith is justified for once… Fine, do whatever you want."

-0-

"…Well, what do you know?" Yuma whistled, glancing around in the empty halls. "…I've lost my way."

Yuma could almost imagine Mori's voice echoing in his head, scolding him for losing his way again. She even warned him, no matter how offhanded it was.

"Well, I better find the front door soon," He hummed, picking a direction and walking. 'Or else Mori'll send me a map, probably. Just to brag that she was right.'

"Lost, Kuga?"

Yuma blinked lightly, pausing for a moment before twisting his head around. His unnervingly blank eyes landed on the familiar figure across the hall.

"Kido." He waved, false politeness coating his words to mask the ice underneath. "Surprise seeing you here."

He paused, before turning his head just slightly away from him. "I thought the director of Border would have better things to do than talk to a lowly Neighbour such as myself on his off time."

Kido's eyes, although not glaring quite yet, were burning with a hate that Yuma hadn't yet seen in anyone other than Miwa. "My office is not far from here. You were causing quite a ruckus."

'I was just talking to myself out loud, jeez.' Yuma sighed out-loud, swinging his arms behind his head. "Well, I won't keep you. Can you point me in the direction of the front door? It'd save me a lot of time."

Kido's eyes narrowed, and he remained silent as Yuma stared.

"…Fine, don't answer me." The Neighbour sighed, deciding instead to walk the other direction. He took a few steps, eventually passing Kido to go the other way.

He almost thought that's all this would be. He thought that's all that would happen.

(He should've known that Kido wouldn't just stand up to glare at someone, and literally do nothing else. That is just a positively silly thought.)

"What is your ploy, Kuga?" Kido's stern voice cut through the silence, back still facing the Neighbour as the latter came to a halt. "You refused the position as captain of your team… Why?"

'Oh,' Yuma though blandly, letting his eyes shut as he moulded his expression into the perfect depiction of carelessness. '…That's apparently a surprise to him, huh?'

"I watched the last match with Tamakoma-2." Kido turned, finally letting his eyes land on Yuma's back, burning glare now firmly in place. "Your captain as of now holds no potential. Any skill she may possess can be found anywhere else in Border. There's nothing special about her… So what do you have up your sleeve that makes you think—"

"Shut up."

Kido paused, although not out of fear of the ice that had crept into Yuma's tone. His eyes narrowed further, and the air around them grew heavy with impatience.

And finally, Yuma turned around. His eyes were now open, deep crimson burning as furiously as they would when catching a lie. Kido suppressed the shiver that went down his spine.

"There's one thing you don't get." Yuma ground out, carefree tone already long abandoned. "You act as if I threw away the captain position. Someone like you wouldn't understand."

(I never had—nor wanted—that position in the first place, Yuma thought. He and Chika had given the position to Mori long before either of them had even thought about touching it.)

"I can see it written all over your face." Yuma's eyes narrowed darkly. "You think that since you know my dad, you know me. Frankly, I don't really know—or care— about what my dad was to you. You think that I just picked Mori to be my captain, on a childish whim. That I'll abandon her and take the place of captain the second this gets old."

"Isn't that the truth?" Kido raised an eyebrow dully. "There's nothing of merit to be found in choosing someone like that… to be your captain."

"… That's where you're wrong." Yuma's voice suddenly lowered dangerously. "Do you really think I'm so selfish that I'm thinking only about myself every second of my life? Only my own survival?" Yuma paused, before turning away from the scarred man. "Frankly, the idea of something like that is sickening."

Kido's eyes widened near-unnoticeably, before returning back to their narrowed state. The action was obviously not meant to be seen by someone that Kido considers an enemy, much less a Neighbour.

Yuma couldn't help but think that Mori would be proud of him for catching that detail.

"If that isn't the case, then you won't live long. A neighbour, in Border?" There was a meaningful pause. "If you don't measure your actions to fulfill Border's every order… Well, I'll be eager to get rid of you. One day, you will reveal your true colours—"

Yuma cut him off, a loud snort echoing through the hall as Kido's words came to an abrupt halt.

The latter was beginning to lose his patience.

"…Do you find something funny?" A hint of irritation finally slipped into Kido's tone.

"Oh, no, nothing in the slightest, I swear." Yuma snickered, raising a hand to cover his mouth just slightly. "I just— Everything you just said. It's completely wrong, and so off the mark I just—" He trailed off into another fit of giggles, causing Kido's patience to thin further still.

Though Yuma began to speak again, just before Kido could snap back at him.

"It's just…" He took a deep breath, calming his expression from the amusement that had been previously present. "You think that it's all about me. It's all about the neighbours, it's all about my dad."

He paused. "It isn't. Not in the slightest." Yuma smiled, thinly. "Maybe it was at one point, when I first came here. But I've long given up on that wish, so that I can move on and start living the way I want to."

There was another drawn-out silence, the tense atmosphere only mounting further until it felt like a physical weight around them.

"…It's about my friends. Everyone at Tamakoma, Rindou-san, Jin, Reiji, Torimaru, Konami, Yotaro."

He lifted his fingers, counting off the names clearly for Kido to see.

"All of my friends and senpai at Border, Yosuke, Midorikawa, Kageura, Arafune, Tokieda, Arashiyama…"

He finally looked Kido in the eyes.

"And my teammates, Tamakoma-2." He grinned, lowering his hands as his ring almost seemed to grow warm. "Shiori… Chika… Replica…"

His smile grew fond. "And our dumbass captain, Mori."

He paused, letting the statement hang for a moment.

"So you see, it's not about me. It's never been about me, from my perspective. Maybe from our Captain's, since she's such a mother hen sometimes, but up until just a while ago… I don't think I cared whether I died the next day or not."

His Trigger was heavy in his pocket, but it was a comfortable weight that he used to ground himself. Despite its origin being the organization that had antagonized him from his very first week here in Meeden, it was comforting. It reminded him of what he had gained since he first set foot on this planet.

He closed his eyes peacefully.

"…But now, all these people are here with me. So rather than nothing having meaning at all anymore… They are the ones carrying my reason. It's about them. It's not about whether I care about myself or not, because I know that they do. So I need to do my best to live for them."

He barely needed to open his eyes to know that Kido's expression was probably enraged. He wanted to see the fury anyway though, so he opened his eyes just enough to see the burning stare.

"You look pretty upset," Yuma pointed out in amusement. "Was it because of how far off the mark you were? Or maybe, was it because some of the people on that list..." Yuma smiled. "Are your very own Border agents from HQ…?"

The answer didn't matter to him though, as he had only asked the rhetorical question in order to infuriate the man further.

So without a care, he turned to walk away.

Swinging his arms up and linking behind his head, he paused halfway down the hall. "…And you said something about 'true colours' earlier. I don't think you need to look far, since this is really all there is to 'someone like me'."

He turned ever so slightly, just enough for Kido to catch his half-lidded eyes.

"After all... I do hate liars."

His phone rang at that exact moment, as if the caller had sensed the tense atmosphere. It didn't go away as the incessant buzzing rang out, but Yuma couldn't care less about the weight of the air at that moment.

"Hello?" He called out, holding his phone in his hand. And maybe to spite Kido further, left it on speaker. "Yuma here."

"Yuma, hurry up. We have to leave in ten minutes. They said we were all meeting at Tamakoma, remember?" Mori's voice echoed from the other end of the line, as she sighed. "You were the one that was so gung-ho about this, could you at least try to be on time?"

"Haha, sorry captain," He laughed, walking down the hall as Kido stood completely still in his spot. "I'll be right over, I just ran into someone."

He turned the corner peacefully, finally turning off the speaker as he bantered with his captain.

Kido didn't move though. His narrowed eyes were still trained on the spot Yuma had been standing, silent fury still burning in his eyes.

-0-

"Simple shirt, and pants. Plain and simple, and I'll be warm," I pointed out, before jabbing a finger over in Yuma's direction. "…Good thing I have a hoodie too, but aren't you going to be cold?"

Yuma shrugged, before grabbing the scarf dangling around his neck and flapping it in my direction obnoxiously. "I have an accessory."

"A scarf won't keep your arms warm, you idiot. And… that is my scarf, you know."

"Not anymore," He cheerily pointed out. "You gave it to me!"

I could feel my eyebrows crease as I glanced up at the sky with a sigh. "… Is that... Really how it works…?"

"…Are you two sure that I look okay?" Chika murmured meekly, standing beside us with the long sleeves of her yukata swaying slightly in the breeze. Her eyes flickered down to the baby blue fabric decorated with orange stitched koi fish along the hem. "Maybe I should change, I feel so out of place…"

"No, don't—" I sighed, setting a hand down on her shoulder. "Chika, you look absolutely amazing. If anyone should want to leave and change, it should be Yuma and I."

"… And I don't really wanna go change, so you're good." Yuma gave a quick thumbs up. "You look nice."

Chika blushed at the praise, raising her sleeves to cover her pink tinted cheeks whilst she tried to stammer a reply.

"Aww~ Chika-chan, you're so adorable!" Shiori swooped in, wrapping her arms around Chika's shoulders with a bright smile.

Chika blushed once again, before shyly returning the hug.

"You guys look comfy," Konami stepped up, evidently having been right behind Shiori. She was also dressed up, a coral coloured yukata with white lantern designs clustered at the edges. "Not dressing up, huh?"

"It would have taken hours to get Yuma dressed if I wanted to, and we didn't have that much time." I groaned, tapping him on the head lightly. "He's the one who got lost while wandering Border HQ, seriously…"

"HQ?" Konami quirked an eyebrow. "Why were you guys there?"

"I left Replica in our operator room the other day by accident since I was distracted." I drew the miniature replication of our friend from my pocket, rolling it around my hand. "Yuma has one too I guess, but kinda I wanted the one that I got…"

"It doesn't feel right when he's not in my pocket," Yuma added sagely, and I agreed with a slow nod.

I paused, before reaching over to pat Yuma's head. "And this guy just wanted to wander around a bit. He bullied a few C-ranks while I did my homework, and miraculously, we didn't attract the attention of any A-rankers."

Kizaki quirked an eyebrow from behind Konami. "Why would either of those things attract attention from A-rankers?"

I could practically feel my shoulders droop as Yuma whistled innocently. "… I literally attracted a high ranking B-rank… by going to a vending machine."

"I met Miwa by a vending machine once too!" He laughed, clapping me on the back. "I guess vending machines are just unlucky for us."

"Rough," Karasuma interjected blandly, although his tone conveyed a deep sense of amusement.

"And Yuma just goes and finds whoever he wants." I sighed, before resting my elbow on said teen's head. He was that short. "I'm honestly surprised he didn't meet anyone important on the way to the front door…"

"But I did!" He interjected, and I felt a pit form in my stomach. "I had a nice, lovely chat with Kido just before you called me."

There was dead silence.

I broke the long, tense pause with a sigh of resignation, patting him on the head lightly. "… I'm just… Not going to mention that. I'll just assume you pissed him off, and he pissed you off."

I received a few pitying glances from Karasuma and Kizaki. Konami seemed to think I wouldn't catch the subtle thumbs-up she sent her pupil, but whatever.

"I did have a feeling you were talking to someone though." I pinched the bridge of my nose, already accepting whatever came out of Yuma's newfound hatred for Kido. (It was dislike before, now it's outright hatred. Lovely.) "Though I was praying I wasn't right… I should've known that wouldn't work."

"Why'd you think so?" Konami asked while tugging on the white-haired boy's scarf, sending a slightly curious glance at the familiar fabric.

(Probably wondering where she's seen it before. Well, it was my favourite scarf, I've probably worn it around Tamakoma on multiple occasions.)

"He called me 'captain'," I elaborated, letting my hand fall to my side. "He only does that around other people, for some reason. He puts a heavy amount of emphasis on it too."

He gave me a smug grin, though he didn't get a chance to say anything more.

"Alright, are we ready to head out now?!" Shiori called out, twisting her head around from where she and Chika were standing. "I bet they've nearly finished setting up the booths, so we should get a move on!"

I glanced around confusedly, just barely catching sight of Rindou, who was wearing a fairly plain dark red Yukata, standing right beside Yotaro, who was sitting on top of Raijinmaru. I didn't think they were here before, but one person was still missing.

"… Is Jin-senpai not showing up?" Karasuma piped up before I could, dark eyes flickering through our current group.

"Nope, he just up-and-left earlier." Shiori pouted. "He's probably dozing off in a ditch somewhere."

Yuma glanced at me quickly, but it wasn't an accusing stare, just curious. I frowned lightly, already getting the message.

'After our next rank wars match,' I promised myself silently. 'After tomorrow, I'll try to have a talk with him.'

I could almost hear the echo of Yuma's voice.

'… I'll hold you to that, Mori.'

-0-

My eye twitched. "… We've lost them already?"

Yuma hummed, standing beside me with a bemused expression. "Seems so, Mori."

Chika glanced around worriedly, standing on my other side as she leaned on my arm. Both of my teammates had death grips on my arms, just so they wouldn't be swept up in the crowd and get lost.

"… Do you think they're ok?" Chika wondered out-loud.

I was pretty tall for my gender and age, but it seemed like everyone else around me still towered over us… Whatever, I'm still only 15.

"Kizaki-san's smart, he'll keep an eye on Konami and Karasuma-senpai," I pointed out helpfully. "And Raijinmaru wouldn't stray too far from Rindou-san, no matter what Yotaro tries to tell him to do. Now, Shiori…"

Shiori, I had seen willingly stray from the rest of our group. But she had something more important to do, so I silently let her go.

"…Shiori's with someone else," I settled for, eyes still flickering around the crowd. "She'll be fine, don't worry about it."

Shiori clearly wanted to spend some time with her previous squad, after all. Kikuchihara-senpai, Utagawa-san, Mikami-san and Kazama-san wouldn't let her get lost.

"…Ok then." Yuma nodded, easily accepting my answer. "So, what do we do?"

"There're games everywhere… Or food stands," I offered, gesturing vaguely into the crowd. "I can see ring tossing not too far from us."

"…What's the point of tossing rings?"

I could hear the confusion in Yuma's voice, and it almost made me laugh.

"C'mon, we'll show you," Chika patiently offered, moving around me to stand in between us, grabbing both of our hands as she began to walk through the crowds. "It'll cost a bit of money though, so if you don't want to try, you don't need to."

"No, it sounds interesting," Yuma reassured from the other side of her, doing his best to shield her from the bustling crowd even though we were slightly behind her. "… But I do kinda want to get a snack afterwards."

"That's a thing we can do," I agreed quietly, although they may not have heard me. We finally arrived at the station though, the woman working at the stand waving to us with a smile.

"Hello! How may I help you today?"

I waved back, a little out of my element as Yuma and Chika pushed me ahead of them. "… Could we get… 6 tries please?"

She nodded back, not at all put out by my awkwardness as she reached down to grab 6 rings. "That'll be 1000 yen, please!"

I fished said change out of my pocket and exchanged it for the rings as I turned to Yuma and Chika quickly.

"Alright," I placed three rings in each of their hands, already gesturing towards the area to throw the rings in. "You two can get 3 tries each, so—"

"You're not going to try?" Yuma questioned, raising an unimpressed eyebrow.

I hesitated slightly, but eventually shook my head as I glanced at the rings. "…I don't really care. Besides, Chika has good enough aim to clean out all of the prizes if she wanted to."

Chika blushed at my words, stunned at the praise. "—N-now, big sister, I-I'm sure you could do the same."

I shook my head, a smile unwillingly forming as I backed off slightly. "No, I probably can't. C'mon guys, don't hold up the non-existent line, and here's some more change if you want some more tries."

Yuma nodded, already taking the coins with one hand, and Chika's wrist with the other as he made his way closer to the stand. "Chika, you need to teach me the rules. Mori can be anti-social if she wants to."

My smile turned slightly teasing as I grinned at their backs. "I bet you'll miss all of the rings."

He waved back, not even glancing back at me while Chika giggled at our banter.

It was nice.

Before long, I'd gotten slightly bored of watching Chika patiently directing Yuma through the rules of the game, with the white-haired teen doing his best to follow.

(Let it be known that Yuma has the worst aim out of us three. Not that it should be a shock, with me being a shooter and Chika a sniper, but still.)

I'd gotten so bored, that nearly anything could distract me.

And something did.

My nose barely twitched, and my head spun around as my eyes flickered towards a random stand across the street.

"… Are those…" I squinted. "Candy apples?"

… Holy shit, they were.

'… They won't notice if I'm quick,' I reasoned in my head, glancing around as I watched Yuma miss the mark once more, turning back to the lady with another few coins. Chika shook her head of the corner of my eye, and I nodded to myself. 'They're too busy to notice.'

I snuck away silently, passing through the crowd with some difficulty, arriving in front of the stand within a few seconds.

"Thank god there's no line yet," I muttered to myself, before facing the stand owner and raising my voice. "2 candy apples, please!"

He nodded quickly, and I fished a few coins out of my pocket as he quickly grabbed two of said snack from the small stand he had set up, before trading with me.

He counted the coins in his hand, but I already knew I had given exact change, so I walked off while he was distracted.

"Alright, now just to—"

I froze, candy apple in each hand, and I glanced around the road blankly.

People all around, as far as I could see. The stands were barely visible over everyone's heads, and I blinked rapidly as the situation began to dawn on me.

(… Am… Am I lost?)

"Ah." I glanced at the stand where I believed Chika and Yuma were, before finding that they were no longer present.

"…Shit."

(This can't get any worse, can it.)

-0-

(Alright, you should know not to tempt fate like that. Seriously Mori, haven't you learned your lesson?)

Within only a few minutes of walking and blankly glancing around, I soon wandered upon this…

… Annoyance.

"Are you even listening to me?! Listen, I am—!"

"Yes, your majesty, I was totally listening," I droned on bleakly, staring off into space as I repeated the same words for, what, the fourth time? "You're the great and almighty son of the Yuiga family or whatever. Look, I really don't care if you're the son of a famous company boss, or the prince of who-knows-where himself, I think you should shut the fuck up… Right about now."

(… Still, the name 'Yuiga' sounds vaguely familiar. Should I know him?)

Obviously, I had muttered the ruder bits too quietly to be heard, as he triumphantly placed his hands on his hips. "That's right. So you better—"

"I'm sorry, you sad son of a bitch," I cut him off irritatedly, eye twitching. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't you also— Perchance, lost?"

There was a sad, drawn-out silence with only the sounds of the crowd around us. The teen visibly wilted.

"That's what I thought," I muttered, finally turning away. "Also, stop screeching. My ears are seriously gonna explode."

Yuiga glared at me weakly for a few more moments, before opening his mouth to annoyingly refute me, before being cut off.

"Ah, Mikumo, there you are—" I didn't have enough time to move my head—even an inch— before the person hastily cut themselves off. "—Oh no."

I spun my head around, quickly recognizing the voice's owner. The arrival of someone, anyone familiar was a blessing when I had to withstand minutes of listening to Yuiga blabbing on and on…

"Karasuma-sen—!"

"YOU!"

Yuiga shrieked, his pointing finger whipping past my face to gesture at Karasuma. I could feel a slight wave of wind from his movement, and my eye twitched from being interrupted.

"Can you not?" I grumbled through gritted teeth, slapping his hand away absentmindedly before turning to Karasuma. Karasuma, who looked slightly regretful as he glanced at Yuiga.

(Yeah, I regret running into this guy too. Poor Karasuma-senpai.)

But for as much as I pitied my teacher, I couldn't help but feel grateful that I wasn't experiencing this misery alone.

"Karasuma-senpai, do you know where Yuma and Chika are?" I quickly asked, stepping in front of Yuiga to block his face from Karasuma's view. "I lost them a while ago, but I couldn't go looking for them with this… flea, following me."

He looked slightly amused at my choice of words, and the two of us ignored the indignant squawk that echoed from behind me.

"I saw them standing with some other people earlier, but Yuma insisted that he knew them," Karasuma smoothly replied. "He also told our group that they lost track of you, so Reiji-san offered our assistance… And we just so happened to come across Tachikawa-squad on the way, with them missing a group member as well."

"Tachikawa-squad's lost someone too…?" I hummed, before taking another bite of the candy apple in my left hand. "Well, would you like to lead the way?"

(Who's their fourth member anyway...? I don't recall meeting them yet.)

He nodded, the two of us attempting to hide how eager we were to leave Yuiga behind. "They're just over here—"

"STOP IGNORING ME! How dare you, I WILL CALL A LAWYER!"

"Ah, right." Karasuma leaned over casually to peer around me, although I could see his eye twitch slightly. "Are you aware of who this is, Mikumo?"

"Kind of… Not really." I shrugged, matching Karasuma's pace as we began to walk away. "I've heard snippets like, he's part of Border, and he's apparently the son of someone 'important'. I wasn't really listening to the rest…"

"HOW COULD YOU NOT—?!"

"My side-effect isn't hearing, after all," I cut Yuiga off, trying to ignore how he was following us. "Although… Kikuchihara-senpai would probably find a way to block out the noise no matter what. There's only so much annoyingness someone can take…"

Yuiga drooped, slightly falling behind. Though he was annoyingly quick to recover. "Kikuchihara Shiro is only from the No. 3 squad! He should be honoured to listen to someone such as m—"

"THERE YOU ARE, YOU LITTLE SHIT!"

A blur quickly cut in between Karasuma and I, with a leg outstretched that knocked Yuiga down to the ground with an obnoxiously loud 'OOF'.

Karasuma blinked confusedly, but my eyes had already registered the familiar blond hair.

I spun around, watching the figure loop their arm around Yuiga's neck and dig their fist into the side of his skull. Painfully.

"—Not only did you somehow manage to get yourself lost, but you also ended up running into Mori-chan! If you're going to run off, could you at least not go around causing trouble for everyone else—!"

"Mori-chan~" Kunichika slid in front of me, effectively cutting off my view from the scene the two A-ranks were making. "So you're at the festival too, huh?"

People are beginning to stare. God, why does everyone I'm acquainted with like to cause a big scene?

"Ah, I guess?" I muttered, easily peeking over her head to watch Izumi continue scolding Yuiga. "…Do you two… Know him?"

"Hm… I guess you could say that." She sighed, placing a hand against her chin. "He's the team burden, I suppose."

"… He's the last member of Tachikawa squad?" I blankly turned to Karasuma, who's flat expression matched my own. "Seriously?"

The two of them nodded in unison, as a cloud of misery seemed to form over Kunichika's head. "… Sadly…"

"Wow, that's rough." I pat my friend on the shoulder, finally catching sight of Izumi. Said teen was sighing in exasperation, finally finished his lecture as he began dragging Yuiga by the collar over to us.

(Honestly, I'm surprised no one's asked us to leave… They're causing such a scene.)

"Mori-chan," Izumi waved towards me, flashing a slight grin. "Sorry about any problems this guy may have caused you."

I shook my head sympathetically, glancing down at the seemingly (dead, my mind whispered) dejected Yuiga. "It wasn't that bad… At least I don't need to deal with him on a day-to-day basis."

Yuiga sprang up suddenly, angered once again. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY—?!"

But he was once again, cut off by Izumi. Izumi, who had chopped him in the neck with a slightly strained smile on his face.

"That's enough outta you."

Yuiga dropped back down to the floor, sobbing dramatically.

I glanced back at Izumi, watching him sigh heavily, before abruptly dropping Yuiga. "... I'm so sorry for everything you've had to deal with this evening."

"Anyway, we need to head back to the rest of the group," Karasuma flatly stated, pointing in the general direction we were previously walking in. "We left Kuga and Amatori over there, since Kuga said he knew the people we found them with."

He paused, before shrugging. "And Reiji-senpai and Konami-senpai will be going back soon since they evidently couldn't find you. Would you two—"

"Three!" Yuiga wailed in frustration from his spot on the ground. "There's three of us here, don't ignore me!"

"—... Three of you. Would the three of you like to join us?" Karasuma's voice was strained, and seemed to have a tinge of exasperation in it.

"Sure, we'll follow~" Kunichika piped up with a grin. "You can lead the way, whenever you're ready."

"Ah, wait." Izumi paused, before spinning around on his feet. "A certain SOMEONE, still needs to APOLOGIZE for SOMETHING, REMEMBER?"

"—Alright, alright... Just... give me a second..."

I blinked confusedly, the motion having been repeated for what seemed like the hundredth time today.

—Dark grey hair, dark eyes that had lost nearly all of the intensity that I had previously seen them with—

Tachikawa Kei walked out from where he had been leaning against one of the stalls nearby, barely within hearing range before he stepped closer.

Unwillingly, a shiver crawled up my spine.

-0-

Last time Tachikawa had seen those dull green eyes, they had been wide with terror as the figure stood there, shaking with fear and a luminescent cube tight in her grasp.

He had been far too distracted to care at the time to pay much attention at the time.

Or rather, he'd been far more focused than ever before, just on someone other than the young teen.

He chopped the street in half multiple times, and on the edge of his senses, he barely noticed the teen girl scurrying away from the scene. He didn't care.

And for all he was just as curious as Kazama was about Jin's kouhai, the only thought occupying his mind was that Izumi lost contact with HQ, one of these goddamn Neighbours dared to lay a hand on his team and he wasn't there at the time—

Izumi was confirmed safe later on though, and they were left with the aftermath of the invasion.

"Rather disappointing, Tachikawa."

Shinoda, his teacher, was standing at the edge of the room with a forlorn expression as he stared off into the empty air. Kinuta was glaring at him, not much of a surprise, and Rindou had been kicked straight out of a few of the future meetings, on account of his behaviour at the press conference.

Though Kido was simply staring down the A-rank with dark, stormy eyes.

"Worse than a disappointment, honestly!" Kinuta yelled, pounding his fist against the table in rage. "A complete betrayal! He disobeyed our direct orders, and during a large-scale invasion no less!"

Demands flew across the room. Demands for an explanation, demand's for the answers that HQ was missing. As per usual.

But Tachikawa only grinned sheepishly, giving the lamest excuse he could think up.

"Haha, I must've accidentally turned off my communicator! You see, I didn't hear any of your orders, whatsoever!"

Kido looked like he desperately wanted to jump across the table and cut off Tachikawa's head.

It was utter bullshit, of course, that much was clear. But everyone in the room knew that Tachikawa was too skilled, too valuable for Border to lose.

(Tachikawa reluctantly agrees that it wasn't complete bullshit. He really wasn't paying attention all that much, but that was just the general announcements. Like when they announced that Izumi was safe again, Tachikawa didn't hear that. But he did hear all of their direct orders… Not that anyone needed to know that.)

He got off with their definition of 'a warning'.

But now that that was all cleared up and out of the way... Tachikawa finally had time to reflect on the thoughts that had been plaguing him since Jin first stood before him, in the middle of the street. Standing between Tachikawa and his target, the black Trigger being kept at Tamakoma.

Something about the invasion has cleared up a bit of that fog. Something he couldn't quite put his finger on, something that was there, that wasn't before.

"... I just don't want you grown-ups... interfering with the battles of my kouhai."

Jin really bothered him sometimes. Saying cryptic stuff like that all the time…

Jeez, that guy already knew that Tachikawa was only battle-smart, so why'd he say things like that when the fight was already over?

It was beyond frustrating at times. If Kazama couldn't figure out what Jin meant half the time, how was Tachikawa even supposed to guess?

But this time, instead of being forgotten in the back of his mind over time... That quote stuck around.

Kazama seemed to understand it on the spot, which was kind of irritating. Tachikawa secretly thought he shared his thoughts on that with his team, because why else would Kikuchihara of all people get involved with a newbie so suddenly, especially after years of being antisocial and—for the most part—only talking with his own team.

But Kazama still wouldn't tell Tachikawa what it meant.

That being said, Tachikawa had never directly asked, but those two had known each other for long enough for Kazama to tell when Tachikawa needed help with something.

He was probably just keeping it to himself to mess with him.

(Jerk.)

Tachikawa tried thinking about it a lot. Especially after the invasion.

(He could practically hear the higher-up's muttering... "This just proves how terrible Neighbours are—" "—How long is Tamakoma going to continue to shelter Neighbours—?!")

The thoughts ran through his mind like a yo-yo, bouncing back and forth with no visible progress or change in the slightest.

One thing rang true though...

During the invasion, HQ had told him not to move from his post.

It didn't matter if Izumi was possibly captured, it didn't matter to them at all. Not in the slightest.

And for the first time, in a very long time... Tachikawa questioned HQ's decision.

But Tachikawa isn't exactly the type to do too much complicated thinking in the heat of the moment. So the moment he questioned it, he made the decision to ignore whatever they had to say and just act.

It was that simple the entire time, huh. He just needed to make the decision to protect the people he wanted to protect, regardless of what's happened in the past.

He wouldn't let the higher-ups mess with his kouhai. Just like Jin wouldn't let them mess with his own.

And unintentionally, he had both nearly killed, but also saved Jin's kouhai during the invasion.

If by complete accident.

... Jin owes him for this.

But Tachikawa also owes that four-eyes. She saved Izumi, after all.

(... No wonder Kazama didn't tell him. It was really that simple to figure out.)

-0-

Last time I had seen the man, was a quick, fleeting glance during the invasion. That one eerily calm second before all hell broke loose as the street was cut in half, and panic overtook my mind while I ran.

Now, it was almost as if I was looking at a different person. Gone was the cold, calm, calculating rage simmering in his eyes.

The person who had appeared on one of the worst days of my life; both a disaster and a savior rolled up in one,

Was in front of me.

"... Sorry for what happened during the invasion. I didn't see you there at first."

I blinked in utter confusion, mind still reeling.

Before the tense atmosphere was broken like shattering glass, by...

... Izumi indignantly punching his captain in the arm.

"That's a horrible apology! Do it over again!"

Tachikawa only laughed loudly, bowing slightly to me with another joking apology tumbling out of his mouth.

His tone was light and joking, but there was an underlying sense of something I couldn't put my finger on.

(Gratitude. It was… gratitude, wasn't it?)

And it was at that moment...

No matter how childishly Tachikawa would ever act in the future, there was not a single doubt in my mind that the man in front of me, was a man deserving of the title 'No. 1'.

He was the captain of the No. 1 squad.

-0-

"Oh?"

Chika spun around, hearing Yuma's voice even over the roar of the nearby crowd. "Hm?"

"There she is," Yuma pointed out, turning away from the current conversation he was holding, despite the few frustrated protests being thrown out.

Chika turned, and true to his words, there Mori was. Standing behind Karasuma-san, and beside a taller individual and a shorter girl with long hair on the other side. There was a blond teen that Chika could recognize behind them, dragging along another teen with dark hair. Who seemed to be sobbing a touch too dramatically to be genuine.

Chika smiled, watching Mori awkwardly grin to the taller man beside her. The girl on her other side grinned and pat Mori's shoulder comfortingly.

"She's so bothersome... making us worry while she goes off and makes friends with other people..." Yuma huffed, pouting jokingly. "I can see the No. 1 squad shooter behind her... Jeez, and she seemed so nervous about meeting him earlier."

"She was," Chika agreed, watching Mori finally glancing over to them, waving excitedly towards both Chika and Yuma. Yuma waved back politely, bending over sideways to peer around the teen he was previously talking to.

"Don't ignore me!" Kageura nagged loudly, finally losing his patience and reaching over to pull Yuma into a headlock. "You're the one that dragged me over here to make small talk, at least stay committed you bastard!"

"Now, now, he was just waving to his captain over there—" Kitazoe attempted to placate his captain, although in vain.

"I can see four-eyes over there! I'm not blind, and I can feel her disgusting emotions from all the way over here!"

(Chika distantly recalled Yuma and Mori retelling their meeting with the spiky-haired captain to Chika, shortly after the event itself. Mori held a great amount of admiration for most captains at Border, and Kageura was no exception from that.)

Chika giggled, watching Yuma dangle from Kageura's grip uselessly. His easy-going expression hadn't faded in the slightest, and Chika had no doubt he could escape whenever he wished to.

Kageura could probably tell that too, so it was obvious the gesture was just to show his exasperation in being ignored.

"Ah... Amatori-san?"

Chika paused, turning towards the person she had been talking with herself.

Ema blushed faintly, the tinge of red barely visible through the bright lights of the festival stalls. He probably would've clammed up at that exact moment, if it weren't for the helpful nudge from Kitazoe and the somehow encouraging scowl on Kageura's part.

"… Would you like some... T-taiyaki? You said you might be interested in some earlier… And they have a stall for it over there."

Chika smiled, reaching out a hand to grasp Ema's loosely, just enough so that they wouldn't get separated in the crowd.

"Thank you, Ema-san."

She didn't notice Ema's blush intensifying as she gently pulled him towards the stand he had gestured towards. The three teens behind them did though, and both Kageura and Yuma sent Ema teasing smirks.

-0-

"You got lost, captain," Yuma huffed as he was released by Kageura. He turned to me, stepping over to my side in an instant. "You were so worried about Chika and I, but we all know that you're the real troublemaker."

(God, does Yuma even know what he's doing...? He automatically switches from 'Mori' to 'captain' whenever anyone from Border is around. This guy.)

"I'm not a troublemaker," I complained futilely.

"You are!" He chuckled, elbowing me playfully.

I glared at him lightly, before giving up and turning my head slightly. "... Fine. Who cares." I paused, before nodding towards Kageura. "By the way, thank you for taking care of this menace."

Kageura nodded back, scowl receding slightly. "Whatever. You owe me."

"Maybe you two should spar sometime. It'd be good practice since Yuma's only regular sparring partners are Shun, Konami, and I." He considered that for a moment, before shrugging without much issue.

Meanwhile, Yuma walked around me and offered out his hand to Tachikawa.

"Hi! I'm Kuga Yuma, nice to meet you!"

Kunichika peered around her captain, smiling lightly. "So you're Mori-chan's teammate? Aw, you're so short~"

"I may be short, but I'm fifteen years old," Yuma accepted without issue, arm still outstretched to shake hands. "Could I maybe have a proper introduction, since the only time I heard about you was... When you guys were after Tamakoma, y'know?"

Yuiga launched himself up from where he'd been sulking on the ground. "T-Tamakoma...? W-What is this?! Was I left out of something again—?!"

A swift chop on the back of the neck cut him off.

"Nice to finally meet'cha, shrimp," Izumi waved, grinning at the white-haired boy.

"Nice to meet you." Yuma returned casually, as if the teen in front of him hadn't just attacked his teammate without mercy. Tachikawa sent a fond glance over towards his teammates before finally reached over to shake Yuma's hand.

"I'm Tachikawa Kei, No. 1 attacker." He grinned.

"Looking forward to fighting you sometime."

-0-

I paused my conversation with Izumi, the two of us having gotten distracted when I had noticed Yoneya and Miwa talking to each other at a nearby shooting booth.

Both Izumi and Yoneya had begun to chat with each other, while Miwa and I were left to silently nod at each other, either of us being brought into the conversation at random intervals.

I caught Rindou in the corner of my eye shortly after though, waving over to me with a slightly lax, blank expression. Yuma was standing beside him with a similarly confused expression, most likely having been dragged over from his conversation with Tachikawa and Kageura shortly before.

I stepped out of the friend circle quietly, waving off Izumi's questioning look, before speed-walking over to the boss and my best friend.

"Yo," I nodded over to Yuma, who waved back in a laid-back manner. "Do you know why he pulled us over?"

"Who knows?" Yuma shrugged, closing his eyes and swinging his arms up behind his head casually. "With Rindou-san, he could've either just found a cool looking stuffed toy for Yotaro that he wants to win for him, or he's scheming something... That will probably get us in trouble."

"Oi, oi, I can hear you brats," He called over to us jokingly. "And I can win anything that Yotaro wants myself... I do know how to aim, you know."

"I'm sure." Yuma's tone was joking, but the two of us were well aware that Rindou could probably beat us 10-0, no sweat.

I've never actually seen him fight, but I have no doubt that he could mop the floor with us… Though I'm not sure about if Yuma used his black Trigger, but I'm not exactly willing to test that theory either.

He paused, before shrugging. "Whatever. That's not what this is about anyway."

"Oh, so you are scheming something." I groaned, leaning my head back.

"Don't phrase it like that, it makes me sound like a bad guy," Rindou complained. "Besides, Jin's the scheming one." I winced slightly when the two of them gave me a pointed glance. "I just... How do I put this... I like to make things easier for everyone at Tamakoma. Whether that makes things harder for HQ, well... Who cares."

"Who cares," Yuma repeated, and I gave the two of them a scolding glare.

"Anyways—" Rindou finally spoke up, patting me on the shoulder. "There's something important I need to tell you two. And I need you guys to go along with it too, starting on Monday."

"Monday?" I paused, giving him a questioning glance. "We have school on Monday, and another Rank wars match next weekend. Do we have time for whatever you have planned?"

Rindou froze at that. "...Well... You see, about 'school'..."

Yuma and I shot each other a frantic glance. "Rindou-san, what did you do?"

"Well, you see—"

"What did you do."

-0-

"... So, Tachikawa."

"Hm?"

"He apologized or whatever, for nearly killing you during the invasion?"

"... He saved me too, you know."

"Eh, same thing. So, you guys talked?"

"... They're not even close to the same thing, but yeah. He's a friendly guy, I guess. Apologized and everything."

"Izumi too. You guys are friends now?"

"Yeah... We became friends the other day, just like I told you. Doesn't 'snowball fight' ring a bell?"

"Oh yeah. I forgot about that."

"Whatever. Tachikawa-squad is... mostly made up of nice people. Not sure about Yuiga though."

"Is anyone sure about Yuiga?"

"Aha ha... Well... I guess that whole festival business calmed me down a bit. Our next match is tomorrow... R-right?"

"That's a bad lie, Mori. Haha, I can see you sweating. And you stuttered."

"Shut."

"Hm... Still, you wanna spar a bit before heading to bed then? It might calm your nerves a bit."

"... Fine. Whatever, I wouldn't be able to sleep for a while anyway."

"I think Rindou-san's still awake, wanna ask him to practice with us?"

"Please no. I... still haven't recovered from what he told us earlier."

"... That's fair. God, Monday's gonna be a mess."

-0-

Everything felt heavy, in a way that it hadn't been for years.

Jin hadn't felt this way in a long, long time, to say the least. The last time it may have come this close might've been those few weeks just after Mogami-san gave his life to make the Fujin, one of Border's first black Triggers.

He wasn't expecting to feel this way again. Any time would still be far too soon.

He couldn't help it though.

(He basically threw Mori— Mikumo, four-eyes, to the wolves.)

And he hadn't really given away the fact that he knew she was likely to die either, he left it up to speculation to most people.

Nearly everyone… Except the one person that this mattered the most to.

The victim herself, Four-eyes Mikumo Mori.

He might as well have said it outright, for crying out loud. How all that 'warning' was half-assed, it spoke volumes along with the crushing amount of emotion that had slipped through Jin's mask at the time that he saw that future.

The morning right before the invasion. In those few moments he was alone with Mikumo, he saw that.

And he composed himself in seconds. In hindsight, not the best impression to give others, but Jin couldn't let anyone know.

(He could let anyone know that he couldn't take another loss that great.)

The grief that was clinging stubbornly to him shouldn't have been this crushing. But it was, and it refused to leave for all that he wandered the city and stared at the grey, cloudy skies of winter.

(Mikumo was still alive, Amatori was still alive, Miwa was still alive, Izumi was still alive, why did this hurt so much? Why did he feel like all of the trauma that they endured that day was all his fault?)

… He didn't want to face them.

He didn't want to face his guilt. He didn't want to face any of the impressions that people had gotten from his avoidance of everyone Border-related.

(He was just tired.)

(… He just wanted to sleep.)

-0-

A/N -

So, 1. The first half of the chapter was written months ago, and then the second half was written around a week or two ago (it took a while for my beta reader to get through it, sorry I'm posting it so late), So if it looks/feels like the transitions are kind of awkward... That's why.

2. This chapter is REALLY, REALLY late, and I apologize deeply for that. It took a while for me to get back into writing(and trust me, I WAS TRYING REALLY HARD) and I just recently started to write like a madman to make up for the lost time. The update schedule will resume normally now, updates on saturdays/around that time.

3. WORLD TRIGGER IS BACK! You would not believe how much I screamed when one of my readers pm'd to tell me about that, christ. I almost can't believe it after so long... Wow, what a year this has been.

4. MERRY CHRISTMAS, AND HAPPY NEW YEAR! Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU to all my readers that have been waiting patiently for a new update, and thank you for being so understanding! I don't want to drag this on too long, but I can only apologize and thank you all for waiting for months.

So, I'll see you all again next week!